Boilers in Galway: oil-heavy homes, grants and installers

Quick answer: Galway City is unusual for an Irish city: Census 2022 found 47.5% of households heat mainly with oil and only 14.8% with natural gas. So an oil technician (ideally OFTEC-registered) is as likely to be the right trade as a Registered Gas Installer. There is no grant for a new oil or gas boiler; SEAI pays up to €12,500 towards a heat pump for a house.

Gas heats far fewer homes in Galway than in Dublin or Cork, and much of the city’s housing is still heated by oil. That changes the questions to ask. For many Galway households the real choice is between a new condensing oil boiler and a heat pump, not between two gas boilers. This guide covers the local heating mix, the rules for gas and oil work, Galway City Council’s role and the grants open in 2026.

How Galway homes are heated

Census 2022 central heating data for the Galway City Council area:

Main central heating fuel, Census 2022	Galway City	Ireland
Oil	47.5%	38.9%
Natural gas	14.8%	32.7%
Electricity	22.8%	11.8%
Coal	3.6%	3.5%
Not stated	7.3%	5.0%

Galway City has the highest share of oil heating of the five Irish cities we cover, and more than one in five households heat mainly with electricity. In Galway County the oil share rises to 57.1%. If you are thinking about switching to gas, ask Gas Networks Ireland whether your street is on the network before you get boiler quotes.

Oil boilers: what applies

There is no statutory register for oil boiler technicians in the Republic of Ireland. OFTEC registration shows approved training and assessment; Selectra notes it is recommended rather than legally required. Replacing an oil boiler like for like is still allowed in an existing home, but SEAI does not fund it, and the Department of Housing says Part L of the Building Regulations has effectively phased out fossil fuel boilers in new dwellings (under 5% of new homes in 2023).

A new boiler is a good moment to check the oil tank and bund; see oil boiler replacement for off-gas homes.

Gas work: the RGI rule

Any work on a natural gas or LPG installation in an Irish home must, by law, be carried out by a Registered Gas Installer (RGI). The register used to be called RGII (Registered Gas Installers of Ireland); it is now run by Safe Energy Ireland on behalf of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), which appoints it as the Gas Safety Supervisory Body. When the job is finished, the RGI must give you a Declaration of Conformance certificate (also called a completion certificate), which records that the work is safe and to standard. You can look an installer up on the RGI scheme’s website before you book; see checking an RGI and the completion paperwork.

Galway City Council’s role

Galway City Council does not license heating installers. It administers the Housing Aid for Older People Grant for the city (Galway County Council does so for the county), and it has designated a 167-hectare area of Westside as the city’s decarbonising zone, chosen from 10 candidate areas with populations over 5,000. The council says each zone must cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 7% a year from 2021 to 2030, with measures that can include heat and building energy efficiency. That is where council-led heat projects are most likely to start.

What the council can do

The council administers the Housing Aid for Older People Grant for people aged 66 and over living in poor housing conditions. It can pay to repair or replace central heating, up to €10,700 (100% of costs) where household income is up to €37,500, with lower rates up to an income of €75,000. Since 1 January 2025 it cannot buy a new oil or gas boiler, but it can repair an existing one or pay for electric or biomass heating.

You apply to Galway City Council or Galway County Council, not to SEAI, and it is worth including a report from a heating contractor describing the condition of the existing system, which Citizens Information says should accompany a heating application.

SEAI grants for Galway homes

SEAI pays up to €12,500 towards a heat pump system in a house (€9,500 in an apartment): up to €6,500 for the heat pump, up to €2,000 for new radiators or underfloor heating where needed, and a €4,000 Renewable Heat Bonus for replacing an oil or gas boiler, solid fuel or storage heating. The home must have been built and occupied before 2021, and you need grant approval before work starts. The full table is in our Ireland boiler costs guide.

On 29 September 2026 the Government approved a new €2,000 boiler scrappage grant for homes built before 2021 that replace a fossil fuel heating system with a heat pump or other renewable heating. RTÉ reports that the scheme starts in the first quarter of 2027, while SEAI says homeowners with a heat pump grant application already in progress will receive the extra €2,000 automatically. That would take the maximum for a house to €14,500. There is still no SEAI grant for replacing a gas or oil boiler with another gas or oil boiler.

Owner-occupiers on a qualifying welfare payment in a home built before 2006 can apply to SEAI’s Warmer Homes Scheme for free upgrades after a survey; SEAI says the most common works are attic and wall insulation.

With nearly half of Galway City homes on oil, the €4,000 Renewable Heat Bonus and the new €2,000 scrappage grant are aimed squarely at households like these. Compare the heat pump route against a new oil boiler at €2,900–€5,500 installed (Selectra) before deciding.

Typical prices

We have not found a price survey for this city alone, so these are national figures checked in September 2026: €2,300–€4,900 for a like-for-like gas boiler including VAT (Gasworks.ie), €2,900–€5,500 for a new oil boiler (Selectra), and a median €16,000–€17,000 for a heat pump in a house before grants (SEAI). See our Ireland boiler costs guide for the full table.

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How to choose an installer

Gas work: check the installer on the RGI register before they start, and ask for the Declaration of Conformance certificate when they finish.
Oil work: ask whether the technician is OFTEC-registered and what certificate or commissioning record they will leave.
Heat pumps and grants: use an SEAI-registered contractor or One Stop Shop, and do not start work until you have grant approval, because SEAI will not pay for work started before approval.
Oil, gas or heat pump? In Galway, check the installer actually works on your fuel before you book a survey.

Our guide to comparing boiler quotes like for like has a fuller checklist, and Ireland’s heating controls grant covers the €700 controls grant.

Gas, oil and heating installers in and around Galway

These businesses appear in public business listings for Galway, and each has its own website describing boiler or heating work. We have not checked their work, prices, registrations or insurance, and they have not paid to appear.